While turkeys are relatively easy to raise there are some common mistakes that could happen that can be avoided with a little bit of research.
One of the things you need to be careful of when your first beginning to raise turkeys is that they need a certain amount of warmth and will get it one way or another. Often, turkeys may pile up on each other smothering each other in order to stay warm, resulting in death of the lower ones. You can solve some of these problems by making sure there is enough heat sources for the amount of turkeys you are growing. You may need a red lamp for every set of 20 turkeys within your turkey herd. By making sure you have enough warmth as well as not having corners for them to pile up in their habitat, you can avoid this common problem and death.
You’ll also find turkeys need a certain amount of particular vitamins and nutrients in order to grow healthy. While your birds may be doing well when immature, as they grow if they don’t get the proper nutrients bare legs can actually grow crooked to the point where they cannot walk. This can be solved by making sure you’re fulfilling all of their vitamin and nutrient needs via processed turkey feed, perhaps alfalfa, or vitamins and minerals in their water. Just make sure you’re getting the right amount for your turkeys and if you’re raising organic turkeys, you cannot use processed food, vitamins or even medicine.
Also, diarrhea is a common problem in turkey herds. You can try to avoid this by again giving them antibiotics on a regular basis, but some people have found that acidophilus in the water works very well. This is great, if you’re raising organic turkeys, as acidophilus is a natural inhibitor of diarrhea. If despite this you wind up with diarrhea in your turkey herd, you will have to put them on antibiotics, and it’s usually something you put in their water.
Raising turkeys is not difficult, but there are some common problems that are associated with turkey herds. Read up on your Internet, there are several stories available that will show you exactly how people encountered the problems, and exactly how they solve them. Turkeys can be great for a small farm, and you can even raise them as free range turkeys and wind up marketing them as organic or free range.
Look to common organic turkey sites, turkey farm sites, and other sites concerning how to raise turkeys and you’ll have a lot of information at your fingertips. Remember, turkeys main concern is going to be warmth and enough food and water to solve their vitamin and nutrient needs. Make sure that you’ve an optimum and with no corners for turkeys and then give them their food and water that they need to survive and thrive.